7th Grade Language Arts

Welcome to the 7th grade and to your language arts classroom! This year we will be focusing on becoming lifelong readers and fluent writers. I want your work in this class to be something that you are proud of and will take great care in, therefor I will be offering a lot of opportunity for you to make choices in this classroom. Here is a brief description of what we will be doing this year:
 

Reading:

This year we will be reading the books below. You will borrow a copy of the book from me or, if you would like, you may purchase your own copy of the book from any bookstore. You will be reading these books in literature groups - more information about that will be given in class.
In addition to these books you will also be choosing 2 books on your own to read and do a book project on.
 
 

	BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA opens after Jess has spent his summer preparing himself for the races he and his classmates run during recess at their rural school. More than anything in the world, Jess wants to win, and he intends to do so. What he doesn't expect is to be outdistanced by a girl, especially one who has just moved in down the road.
	The author based his book on the life of this remarkable young woman who, during the evacuation of Ghalas-at (an island off the coast of California), jumped ship to stay with her young brother who had been abandoned on the island. He died shortly thereafter, and Karana fended for herself on the island for 18 years.
	In a world with no poverty, no crime, no sickness and no unemployment, and where every family is happy, 12-year-old Jonas is chosen to be the community's Receiver of Memories. Under the tutelage of the Elders and an old man known as the Giver, he discovers the disturbing truth about his utopian world and struggles against the weight of its hypocrisy.

Writing:

We will be concentrating on writing to persuade. This will introduce a  unit on public speaking where you
will write and give a persuasive speech on any approved topic that you choose.

This year we will also be exploring creative writing! This is my favorite part of teaching! We will experiment with different types of poetry as well as studying some of the great poets in history. We will also be doing several short creative writing assignments. You will be choosing your best pieces to go into a creative writing portfolio that we will make into a book at the end of the year.